Green Home Designs – Express Your Inner Green Thumb

The biggest trend today is the green home design. Why? Living in a home that has a smaller impact on the environment and the Earth is great for everyone involved. The materials used to create a environmentally friendly house are often recycled from other buildings, last longer than traditional materials and reduce the cost of electric and heating bills over the life of the residence.

Renting Vs Buying Eco-Friendly Spots

Eco-friendly designs are exciting for builders to create, but that does not mean the owner is always the one living in the eco-friendly structure. Finding an environmentally friendly home to rent can be a difficult process because everyone wants to live in a home that makes they feel just a bit better about their part in saving the Earth.

As is the case in any business, there are owners who will place some Energy Star appliances in a home and swear the home is a green home design. This is not the case. Energy Star appliances do decrease the carbon footprint the home has on the Earth, but that does not make the home a green home.

An Altered Building Process

One aspect of building a greener residence that owners forget, is the energy expenditure used in building. The builder needs to agree to use more energy efficient building methods during construction. Hiring a professional green builder could mean working with someone who understands the need to decrease energy use during the build.

For the homeowner or investor who wants to do their part to reduce carbon emissions, energy use and the impact the house has on the environment, home designs with Mother Earth in mind are the best solution.

The Importance of a Green Home Design

When you create a green home design, you are contributing to preserving our planet’s natural resources. In addition, you are helping to eliminate greenhouse gases, which are the main cause of global warming. Besides improving the health of the planet, you can enjoy savings on your energy bills. This can be done by purchasing appliances that are energy efficient, selecting eco-friendly building materials and practicing energy saving measures.

Using recycled materials are the best way to achieve a green home design. Your builder, local home improvement store, or interior design websites have a wealth of information about instituting eco-friendly materials in every room of your house. For example, in the kitchen and bath, recycled counter tops made with paper stone are gaining in popularity over those made from granite.

The quickest road to a green home design is the use of energy efficient appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, televisions, air conditioners and small electrical items. Whenever purchasing small and large appliances, buy those with the Energy Star label. The seal of approval issued by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Environmental Protection Agency means the appliance prevents global warming by reducing energy consumption.

A green home design extends to a home’s contents. One major area is the furniture, such as sofas, chairs, bureaus, tables and desks. Rather than buy new furnishings when they are outdated or when you redesign a room, consider whether the piece can be repainted, refinished, restained, or dressed in a slipcover. For worn out furniture pieces, determine whether it can be reupholstered or recycled.

There are various kinds of flooring that go hand in hand with a green home design. Cork and bamboo are two effective green offerings that provide additional benefits than traditional hard wood flooring. They come in a variety of color and style options, perform well in high traffic areas and look great.

A green home design should include dimmer switches. They can be easily installed in new homes under construction, as well as in existing homes. This simple switch can minimize energy consumption, which is a good thing for our planet. It can also put extra money in your pocket since you’re saving on energy use. That translates into a lower electric bill.

Complementing a green home design are other environmentally friendly measures that save our resources. They are the four Rs: recycling, reusing items in other ways instead of discarding them, restoring instead of buying new and reducing waste. Evaluate your home practices to see how you can enhance your go green pledge.

A green home design helps to preserve our natural resources and keeps our planet healthy. Going green doesn’t cost anything extra, especially when you consider the cost savings in the long run. Lighting changes, for example, instantly pays for itself. When you replace standard incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient luminescent ones, you conserve energy and realize a significant savings on your electric bill.

 

ipad   ipad   ipad

Five Principles of Green Home Design

A green home minimizes the negative impact on its environment through its home design. Here are a few considerations an architect takes into account when designing a green home:

1. Site: Evaluations and analysis of access, slope, ledge, soil, bodies of water, and vegetation in order to limit the home's impact on the site environment. This includes the site location (farmland, wetland, protected species habitats) and proximity to public transportation, parks, schools, and stores.

2. Size: A green home is efficiently designed to keep the square footage to a minimum. This reduces the amount of energy to heat and cool the home, lighting, and the quantity of building materials used, and also controls costs and reduces site impact.

3. Solar: Whether or not there is a plan to install a solar energy system to heat the water or produce electricity, there are several other solar considerations in green home design. Designing the home for passive solar makes the most of solar energy by harvesting it into the homes' natural energy flows. Passive solar systems include day-lighting strategies, heating and cooling control techniques, and natural ventilation. When a whole-building approach is taken, energy savings can be great both in terms of reducing the home's carbon footprint and the costs associated with heating, cooling, and maintaining the home.

4. Energy: Lighting, heating, and cooling systems are an important consideration in green home design. Renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and geothermal systems use the earth's natural energy to heat and cool the home, as well as provide electricity to run appliances and technology..

5. Water Conservation: Building a new home presents a unique opportunity to save water. Two money and energy-saving strategies which can be easily incorporated into an energy efficient home design are 1) reducing the overall water using in the home by specifying low-flow water fixtures, low-flush or composting toilets, installing aerators on all taps, and installing low-flow showerhead nozzles; and 2) specifying a plumbing system that reuses grey water (wastewater from domestic usage such as dish washing, laundry and bathing) for flushing toilets, watering lawns, etc. (note: some grey water systems require approval by most local building jurisdictions, your architect will verify this prior to design).

Of course, a new home should use minimal amounts of fossil fuels, last a long time, and cost less money. Many home design strategies don't cost a dime in materials but can save hundreds of dollars on heating and cooling costs. The result is a beautiful, healthy home – for both the homeowners and the environment.

Buy Eco Products For Any Occasion

Using eco products has become more popular as these products are environmentally friendly and reduce waste. You can buy eco products from many eco stores, both online and in your local neighborhood. Eco products are made from natural and sustainable materials materials and often times the product can be reused or recycled. With so much emphasis on saving the planet and preventing any further damage, eco products are an excellent solution.

While you may not have many eco retail stores in your area, there are plenty of eco products that can be purchased online. You can find eco kitchen appliances, eco beauty products, eco bath products, eco foods and even eco office supplies. There are companies that specialize in eco design for the home and can create an environmentally friendly environment that you can easily live in.

As with making a purchase from any online store you should always make sure you are buying from a trusted company. Eco products have a specific significance placed on them and many companies may be trying to pass off non eco products as eco products. Make sure what you are purchasing is actually environmentally friendly.

Some very well known producers and retailers of eco products include GreenFeet which produces environmentally friendly products that can be used in your everyday life. If you want an eco gift or organic gift basket then Fresh Unlimited can meet your needs and Anna Sova is an online store that carries luxury organic products. 3 R Living is another company that provides eco products of the highest quality and if you are interesting in modern eco design then visit Re:modern.

A specific store that caters for the body and soul by providing eco products is at Hip & Zen. IIKH Retail Store has a plethora of eco products. You can find something for the gourmet, eco products for your pet, baby eco products, and eco products to use throughout the home. A specific boutique dedicated to eco design is Vivavi.

It is possible to find a replacement eco product for whatever you need or desire. While eco products are still considered a luxury good they will become more and more mainstream as more individuals switch to using eco products. So start by helping the environment today and purchase an eco product at your favorite eco store.

Finding And Buy Eco Products

Many people are becoming more interested in the environment and are seeking to buy eco products, but do not know where to find them. Environmentally friendly products are those that use sustainable resources and help with the many environmental concerns in today’s world. Eco products often times use recycled material and thus reduce waste in using them or making them.

You can buy eco products online. There are eco products that can be used for everyday life such as eco kitchen appliances, eco shavers and even eco office supplies. Eco products are also available that can benefit your health as there are allergy relief products, humidifiers, air purifiers and dust mite bedding as a few examples.

It is always important to fully investigate each website before you make any purchases. Eco products are specialized goods and many people may pretend to be selling eco products when they are not. With so many environmentally aware stores opening and designers using eco products, it is much easier than it once was to find eco products, but you still need to be careful.

Some excellent online eco product stores include 3R Living, which stocks organic products and high quality eco friendly gifts. Anna Sova carries luxury organic products, Fresh Unlimited produces organic gift baskets and gifts and GreenFeet carries eco friendly products for day to day use.

Other online eco stores that carry eco products include Hip & Zen. They have lifestyle products to take care of both your body and soul. IIKH Retail Store has eco friendly products for the gourmet, pet, home, baby, body and bath. Pangava produces eco friendly and organic products and Vivavi is an eco design boutique.

No matter what type of eco product you are looking for you will be able to find it. There are plenty of websites devoted to listing the many eco stores where you can buy eco products. If you have a specific product in mind, then you will be able to find an eco friendly product, as many more companies are going green. Don’t delay – buy eco today.